---
title: 'Proxy'
sidebarTitle: 'Proxy'
description: 'Run authenticated API requests'
---

The proxy provides an easy way to make authenticated API requests to external APIs.

## When should you use the proxy?

- You want to make authenticated API requests directly from your backend
- You want automatic retries and rate-limit handling for your API requests
- You want your API requests to be logged in Nango

Common examples:
- Fetching files and other large binary content from an external API
- Running API requests directly from your backend to an external API
- Allowing AI agents to make arbitrary, authenticated API requests to an external API

## Key facts

- The proxy forwards API requests from your backend to the external API and back
- Nango automatically adds any required authentication or API-specific config (e.g., subdomain) to the API request
- Nango can optionally retry failed requests and handle rate limits
- Proxied API requests are executed 1:1 against the external API, and its response is transferred back to you without modification
- All proxy requests are logged in Nango's [logs](/guides/platform/logs)


## How the proxy works

<Frame caption="Overview of the proxy in Nango">
  ![](/images/diagrams/nango-proxy-diagram.png)
</Frame>

Follow our [implement a proxy request](/implementation-guides/requests-proxy/implement-requests-proxy) guide to use the proxy in your product.